John Niven spent a number of years working as an A&R manager. His first book, Music from the Big Pink, a fictional novella set in the world around Bob Dylan and the Band in Woodstock in the 1960s, was critically acclaimed on publication in 2007. Film rights to the book were acquired by Stephen Butterworth. John is also the author of Kill Your Friends (his cult satire on the music industry, which was longlisted for the Desmond Elliot Award, and which has been made into a film), The Amateurs, The Second Coming, Cold Hands, Straight White Male and The Sunshine Cruise Company, all of which were published by William Heinemann to critical acclaim and universal press coverage.